1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire harness for use in vehicles or industrial or household appliances and a method for manufacturing thereof.
2. Prior Art
A wire harness, for example, for a vehicle comprises many sections, including an engine compartment harness, a main harness, a cabin harness, a front door harness and so on. The circuitry of each of these harness sections differs depending on the car model, engine model, door model (hereinafter referred to as a car model), the grade or specification. A harness number is assigned to each of the different circuits of different harness sections. That is, production control and manufacture of the wire harness are conducted for each of these harness numbers. For example, assuming that the main harness of a certain car model contains, in addition to the basic or normally installed equipment such as a radio, air conditioner, and a trunk compartment lamp, some of four selectable electrical systems, including a four wheel drive system, an electronic control suspension system, an anti-lock braking system and a keyless entry system (a system in which the car door can be opened/closed by means of a card), 16 different harness numbers are required to cover all possible combinations of these four electrical systems. This applies not only to the main harness but also to each of the other harness sections, including an engine compartment harness, cabin harness, and front door harness. Further, there are 16 different harness numbers for every harness section of every car model. The wire harness for a single vehicle is constituted of a combination of harnesses bearing particular harness numbers of respective harness sections which are determined by a combination of selected electrical systems.
However, there is a tendency toward an increase in the number of harness numbers due to diversification of car models, grades or specifications, and thus there is a tendency towards small-scale varieted production of wire harnesses, making production control difficult. That is, an increase in the number of harness numbers makes production control of a wire harness troublesome and mass production impossible, thereby resulting in a decrease in productivity. Furthermore, since a wire harness is manufactured corresponding to each of harness numbers, when a variation in the production quantity of a harness occurs, manufacture of the entire harness section must be corrected to re-adjust the production quantity, thus making the manufacture difficult. Particularly, in the case of wire harnesses for vehicles, a change in the combination of electrical systems brings about a change not only in a single harness section but also in the harness numbers of all the other harness sections, making the manufacture difficult. Furthermore, when a change in design occurs, the manufacture of the entire harness circuit must be corrected to adjust the circuit configuration, making manufacture difficult.